What makes a top workplace in the Lehigh Valley? Turns out it's not all about the size of your paycheck.

That's the takeaway from The Morning Call's inaugural Top Workplaces survey, performed in partnership with Philadelphia-based WorkplaceDynamics, an employee survey firm. Of 506 area companies invited, 51 participated in the study. More than 7,000 employees responded, either on paper or online.

The workplaces that received the highest scores from their employees are remarkably diverse. They represent a variety of industries, from manufacturing to health care, and included a college, a boutique hotel and a Presbyterian church.

What these businesses and nonprofit organizations have in common, survey results suggest, is they give their employees a sense of purpose and the feeling that their contributions are truly valued. In the survey's comment section and in subsequent interviews, employees didn't have all that much to say about money. But they were effusive about all the other ways their employers show they care — really care, as corny as that may sound.

"No matter how large we get, you always get the feeling that this is a family company," Roberta Gaines said of her employer, Prudential Patt, White Real Estate of Allentown. "When I win an award, I get a call or an email from the owners, and they remember your birthday."

Jeanine Metzler, an assistant professor of accounting at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem Township, put it this way: "People here really care about me as an individual. … I never worked with a group of people who wanted me to succeed more than they want to themselves."

WorkplaceDynamics' survey asked employees whether they agreed with 19 statements about their workplaces. The statement with the strongest correlation to a high ranking was, I believe this company is going in the right direction. (If employees tended to agree with that statement, they were likely to rate their workplace favorably in other areas too, resulting in an overall high ranking for their workplace.) As the adage goes, everybody loves a winner — and, apparently, especially so when one feels like an important part of that winning effort.

"You aren't looked at as just like a tool to be used," said medical assistant Aaron Harlacher of his work at Advanced Dermatology Associates of Allentown. "You are a valued piece of the puzzle."

Phedra Fishbein, 35, shared similar sentiments about working as the webmaster of Muhlenberg College in Allentown. "It really is just a caring place to work. It is not just a job," she said. "It is not like this strict hierarchy, your opinion is valued. You are not just looked at as, do your job and that's it."

The survey statement with the second-highest correlation to a high ranking was, I feel genuinely appreciated at this company. Of course, making employees feel this way takes more than words. It takes actions, small and large. It takes policies, official and unofficial.

For example, American Bank in South Whitehall Township paid employees whether they reported to work or not after Hurricane Sandy. And Muhlenberg College has extended benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

Last year, WorkplaceDynamics partnered with 32 newspapers and surveyed 1.5 million employees nationwide as part of its research into what environments are best for employees. The Lehigh Valley results were similar to those from elsewhere, according to Denise LaRue, manager of client engagement at WorkplaceDynamics. In other words, people everywhere want to feel as though their workplaces are heading in the right direction. And nowhere is money the main driver of workplace satisfaction. "Everything looks pretty normal," LaRue said, summing up the Valley's profile.

In the comment section of the survey, there was a recurring theme — and it seemed to suggest something noteworthy, if not unique, about this region. Over and over again, employees cited their workplaces' family-friendly ways. The highest-ranked workplaces, it turns out, recognize that many of their employees also are caregivers, and they help them strike the right balance between the two roles.

"I never have to worry that my family will come second," wrote one employee of HindlePower, an Easton company that makes battery chargers. "HindlePower believes in family first. If needed, I can make up any time lost ... to deal with any family or personal matters."

Company owner Bill Hindle explained why he encourages employees to take time off for important family events or emergencies: "The real importance of life is family. …That's where you need to be. …We understand that 100 percent without question."

That so many of the Lehigh Valley's top workplaces would be family-friendly makes perfect sense, considering the region's reputation as a good place to raise a family. Indeed, many professionals settle in the Valley — with its robust economy and relatively low cost of living — precisely because it promises a good balance between work and home life.

Let's face it, if you're married to your job, you're more likely to end up in New York, Philadelphia or some other big city, where you'll be surrounded by plenty of like-minded people. But if your marriage actually involves a spouse, and perhaps offspring as well, then the Lehigh Valley is probably more your speed.

And so it seems for the employee of Bethlehem medical devicemaker OraSure Technologies, who in her survey comments wrote: "My manager is very down to earth [and] lets us put our family first, which is huge to me when it comes to being a working mom. …I am grateful to have a job with a good salary and over six weeks of paid time off."

In a WorkforceDynamics' survey and interviews to name the Lehigh Valley's top workplaces, employees didn't have all that much to say about money. But they were effusive about all the other ways their employers show they care – really care, as corny as that may sound. See some of the...

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